Practice

The Clinic’s projects are designed and implemented in partnership with impacted communities and civil society. Community agency and power are values at the core of the Clinic’s work. Student teams, with close supervision and mentorship from Clinic supervisors, support our project partners’ efforts to prevent and redress human rights violations and foster peace and justice. The Clinic currently works on three broad issue areas: peace and justice, equality and non-discrimination, and rights across borders.

Issue Areas

Group of people marching for human rights in New York City.

Equality and Non-Discrimination

People face serious and enduring rights abuses across the globe on the basis of multiple and overlapping aspects of their identity, including religion, sexuality, gender, disability, nationality, and ethnicity. The Clinic works with partners in East Africa and the Caribbean to prevent and respond to violations facing the LGBTQI+ community.
Emigrants Leaving Country

Rights Across Borders

When people or information traverse borders human rights are often at risk. People on the move frequently face abuse and lack access to due process, protection, and justice for crimes committed against them. Through engagement with partners across the Americas, including in El Salvador, Panama, Colombia, and the United States, the Clinic supports efforts to protect the rights of migrants and address the factors forcing them from their homes.
Soldier with a rifle near military armored car.

Peace and Justice

Conflicts around the world are often sites of mass human rights violations. These violations are often compounded by the failure to acknowledge and account for the resulting harms and prevent their recurrence. The Clinic supports partners in South Asia and the Horn of Africa to advance human rights and foster just and sustainable peace.

Equality and Non-Discrimination

Clinic as a Space for Reflection and Growth

Spring 2023

Anya Weinstock (’24), Ducan Bowen Ranslem (’24), and Roshan Natarajan (’24) worked with Jamaican LGBTQI+ organizations to ensure Jamaican trans voices were heard in ongoing litigation before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. They drafted and filed an amicus brief, with human rights clinics at the University of Pennsylvania and University of Chicago, in a case before the Commission related to the murder of a sixteen-year-old transgender Jamaican child, Dwayne Jones.
IHR&CRC Highlights: Equality and Non-Discrimination

Fall 2023

Maya King (’25), Masha Miura (’24), and Bojan Srbinovski (’24) supported advocacy efforts to overturn Uganda’s 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Act, the second draconian law of its nature in a decade. The Act applies the death penalty to "aggravated homosexuality", criminalizes consensual same-sex sexual relations with life imprisonment, and imposes a duty to report on Ugandans who provide housing, healthcare, and essential services to members of the LGBTQI+ community. In collaboration with a leading human rights organization, they drafted public-facing materials to raise awareness about the Act and provided research support for strategic litigation efforts to promote the rights of the LBGTQI+ community.

Rights Across Borders

Clinic Practice

Spring 2023

Audrey Spensley (’23) and Carolina Abboud (’23) worked with partner organizations to document ongoing arbitrary arrests in El Salvador and the impact of the use of unreliable data-sharing between El Salvador and the United States. They collected cases from immigration lawyers across the United States that highlighted the concerning use of unsubstantiated allegations by El Salvadoran to deny immigration relief. They drafted and filed a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties within the Department of Homeland Security.
Practice 1

Fall 2023

Anna Howell (’24), Dorna Movasseghi (’25), and Ellie Farrin (’25) conducted a delegation to Panama with the Haitian Bridge Alliance to examine access to justice for migrants crossing the dangerous Darien jungle on the border between Panama and Colombia. They held meetings with both high-ranking government officials and international non-profit organizations to collect information for the development of recommendations to the Panamanian government. They drafted a robust letter to officials detailing improvements needed to better provide access to justice for victims of sexual violence and other crimes.

Peace and Justice

IHR&CRC Highlights: Peace and Justice 1

Spring 2023

Nate Vincent Quigley (’24), Max Han (’24), and Mathew Aaron Sperling (’24) assisted peacebuilding organizations to research the impact of legal changes in an area of protracted conflict on human rights. They conducted legal research and interviews, and also traveled to Belfast and Derry to conduct a comparative study on the Northern Ireland peace process.
IHR&CRC Highlights: Peace and Justice

Fall 2023

Riley Burton (’25), Rebecca Sadock (’25), Michelle Shim (’25), and Max Han (’24) assisted peacebuilding partner organizations to research the impact of legal changes in an area of protracted conflict on human rights. Building on the work of Spring 2023’s team, they conducted legal research and interviews to support the design of a new framework for dialogue.